Etsy Shop for daveshomeroast

Dave's choice

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:42:22 -0500

$10.00
Can't decide? I'll surprise you.

Or, if you don't see something you might want, I may have some stuff in my garage that is not listed for some reason. Just ask !!

Your coffee is packed in a heavy, heat-sealed plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Sulawesi Tana Toraja Ke'pe

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:01:38 -0500

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"Toraja coffees can come from anywhere in the Tana Toraja highlands, and sometimes they even come from outside the area and are blended with true Toraja coffees. In the very north of Toraja are the highest growing areas, like Pulu Pulu, and these coffees are brought by the farmers down to the local markets of Sapan, Minanga, Barrupu and the origin for this lot, Ke'pe, to sell to collectors for the larger mills. So Ke'pe represents one of the upstream points to separate coffees of regional quality before it is mixed to become a general "Toraja" coffee. While regions matter, much of the character of Sulawesi coffees is the result of the post-harvest process, the wet-hull method, called "Giling Basah". The dark, chaff-free appearance of the green is evidence, as well as low acidity, heavy body, and some of the muted, deep fruit notes. But with this lot, it is clear that starting with the higher-grown smallholder farms in the areas adjacent to Ke'pe, from the north of Toraja coffee growing area, means a true Toraja cup character and not a mix with coffees from the southern, lower areas. The dry fragrance isn't overwhelming, but has a lot of rustic sweetness as well as pungent spice in the darker roasts. It's also a clean cup, not musty, without dirty notes that bad Indo's can have, but by no means a wimpy cup either!"

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Sumatran Blue Batak Tarbarita Peaberry

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:56:59 -0500

$10.00
Supplier Coffee Shrub (from Sweet Maria's) provides the following description:

"This is a peaberry preparation of the Blue Batak Lintong-area coffee. Lintong coffees are from Sumatra, the island that is politically and geographically part of Indonesia. Lintong Nihota is the town that has become synonymous with the entire southern part of Lake Toba area. Lake Toba defines the landscape of the area, the largest volcanic crater lake in the world, and the result of the largest volcanic event on earth in the last 25 million years! It is huge, and the coffees from the north and eastern shores are quite different from the Lintong coffees. Lintong coffees are farmed by the Batak peoples that are the indigenous tribe that works the coffee in this area. We offer the top grade, specially- prepared Lintong coffees as Blue Batak in honor of the Toba Batak people.

I find Sumatras like this more complex in the lighter roasts than in the usual darker roasts they receive. The main reason is that many commercial roasters use color and surface texture as indicators of roast level. The peaberry has a different roast dynamic, and seems to be a more dense bean that the flats. (Sumatra is known as a fairly "soft" bean, overall). The Tarbarita has a complex aroma, with rustic sweetness, chocolate, honey-hickory, and savory herbal notes. There's sweet sarsaparilla and root beer scents in the wet aroma, caramel and butterscotch, darker malty scents, and pungent spice. The sweetness reminds me of chicory root and molasses, laced with clove and cinnamon. The body is lighter that the non-peaberry Blue Batak lot, the cup a bit brighter and more lively. The long finish has a nice cinnamon-laced tea note.

This coffee just exudes so much crazy freshness. At a light roast there is an anise and sweet lemon basil with what at first I thought of as a candied green bell pepper, but over time was more of a wet watermelon rind with just a little of the red fruit still there. It felt like a great big green marble rolling around my palate."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Australian Mountain Top

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:43:26 -0500

$20.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"Mountain Top is a farm in SE Australia, about 2 hours south of Brisbane and 5 minutes west of Nimbin. This selected area is unique because of the altitude and unique volcanic red soils. The farm itself is on the slopes of the extinct volcano, Mt. Warning. The area is a lush, subtropical environment, and is unique in coffee since this is the southernmost growing area of any coffee I know. It's also unique in that this growing area is quite distant from where most Aussie coffees come from, at least the Skybury from Mareeba in the north, which is a fully mechanized farm akin to Kauai coffee. Mountain Top is also a high tech farm, borrowing ideas from Brazil for cultivar, as well as picking using harvesting equipment. Mundo Novo is the type of coffee they plant: It has a peculiar rounded form which is somewhat like Bourbon cultivar, but is a hybrid of Bourbon. We think the quality of the Mountain Top has been greatly improved by the use of vacuum packaging; our coffee arrives in cardboard-boxed vacuum sealed bags. It's such a long voyage that this coffee undertakes to get to Oakland, California, you could really taste the transport damage in diminished cup quality in the past. With this coffee though, I have found it needs some time to equalize after removing it from vacuum packaging, and into our zip bags. We let it "breathe" for a day before re-bagging it. I am really impressed with the cup this year. Yes, it's a little funky, but it is a semi-washed coffee (meaning that some fruity mucilage has been left on the parchment of the coffee to dry, akin to Pulp Natural coffee). Our lot this year is more fruited and floral than in years past. The dry fragrance has rose hips, and red apple. This cup is very juicy and has a sharp sweetness, and is again apple-like (mallic) with resinous piney hints. The coffee has sweet apricot cup flavors, rose hips, turning to nectarine in the aftertaste. Overall, the flavors exist in a compact range, and the sweet aftertaste seems to linger for an appropriate amount of time. As mentioned, we have received the coffee vacuum packed in the last 2 seasons, not in jute bags, and this has helped preserve the origin flavors."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Indian Jasmine Yellikudige ORGANIC

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:33:17 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"I like wet-process India arabica coffees, mild and very balanced, when they are correctly picked and processed. Much of the coffee is grown at relatively low altitudes, so ideally you want to find lots from altitudes above 1200 meters. This affects bean densities, which in turn affects roasting. "Soft" coffees from low altitudes are more difficult to roast, especially in small home roasters I believe, and the result can be ashy flavors, and greater risk of scorching or tipping the coffee. This is a new lot to us, but something I cupped in previous seasons and enjoyed. I simply thought it was better this season than in the previous, and decided to offer it! The Jasmine Estate spreads over 150 acres of the Chikmagalur area in Karnataka State. It was originally planted in 1888 and for a long time the majority was exported to London. In 1973 the Estate was acquired by K.R. Sethna, an environmentalist and ornithologist. He to converted the entire estate to organic in 1989. The coffee is grown at 3800 ft in forest-alluvial and humus-rich soil under a mixed canopy of 40-45 ft native shade trees. These trees also help to conserve the natural flora, fauna and soil of the Estate. The dry fragrance is nutty, and has a rustic sweetness, but is more on the savory side than overtly sweet. Malty, caramelly, and molasses-like sweetness are present in the wet aromatics, along with savory smells and the scent of steamed rice. The cup is unique, and a basmati rice note characterizes the first sip, both sweet and nutty. There's a sweet grain as well, barley, and a really silky smooth body. Herbal tea notes grace the finish as it cools down. Overall it is a sweet and mild cup, but exotic in the sense that these rice, barley and tea notes combine in an unusual and even unlikely way to make a very interesting tasting experience."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Nicaraguan Jinotega DECAF

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:27:25 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"This lot of coffee is from the Jinotega region, a coffee-rich area near Matagalpa and Nueva Segovia growing regions. This is a cooperative coffee from Associacion Aldea Global, an organization that has a strong social mission for education, health and quality of life improvements for the small farmers of the area, and helps with all crops as well as sustenance farming. But coffee is the core of the program, as it is the main cash crop of Jinotega and Nicaragua in general. It's a good SHG (Strictly High Grown) specialty quality coffee, mild and clean, and a higher level than those typically available in decaf form. This it is sent for WP Decaf (Water Process) decaffeination in Mexico for the water filtration decaf method. You can send great coffee for decaffeination, and it comes back terrible, and the reverse rarely happens (to my knowledge). What you hope for is a coffee with 80% of the original character ... and we have definitely achieved it here. This cups like a good, solid specialty coffee from Nicaragua with light body and clearly defined brightness. The fragrance and aroma are nutty, with toasty bread hints, and lightly malted notes. I get a wisp of a pleasant smoked woody note in the cup flavors, body is fairly light. There is enough brightness to give the cup a nice acidity "sparkle," and I like the lively, mild cup it produces."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Mexican Santa Cruz DECAF FAIR TRADE ORGANIC

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:18:56 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"This is a very nice lot from the Sierra Madre range in south Mexico. Union Ramal Santa Cruz is a cooperative in the Chiapas state, near the cities of Tuxtla and Chiapa de Corzo. Along with Oaxaca coffees, Chiapas are my favorite. They feature a more dynamic brightness in the cup, a lively coffee. It makes sense since Chiapas borders the Guatemala state of Huehuetenango. This coffee originates from a cooperative lot and is then decaffeinated using the water process method in Mexico. And I was excited when I cupped this coffee … even if a big decaf cupping is not always my favorite table of samples to evaluate. The dry fragrance and wet aromatics are mildly fruited, with suggestions of toffee and raw honey. This was a real standout in cupping (on a large table of decafs), with a very clean, crisp, bright note in the cup, hinting at its origin as a true high-grown Chiapas. There is an apple fruit note in the cup and some mild nut flavors, with a brown sugar finish. The body is moderate, not thin, but also not heavy on the palate. That's pretty much in line with non-decaf Chiapas coffees. Mild, balanced, drinkable ...and certified Organic and Fair Trade to boot."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Honduran Ocotopeque DECAF FAIR TRADE ORGANIC

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:13:28 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"This is a filter water-process decaf from Coprocael cooperative in Ocotopeque area of Honduras. Coprocael is another unpronounceable coop name which stands for Cooperativa De Productores De Café La Encarnación Limitada. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a Honduras coffee as a decaf, but it is a great candidate, similar to our Mexico decafs, because of it's mild balance and moderate acidity. I think this lot came through the process very well; an approachable Central America character, classic, quaffable. The dry fragrance has that typcial decaf aromatic, slightly fruity and a bit like laundry, but is also sweetly nutty. It is more sharp in its sweetness when you add the hot water, with a brew scent with both hazelnut and dry-roasted peanut, caramel sauce, almond skins, and perhaps the slightest hint of wet earth. The cup has the same flavors as hinted to in the aroma, nut and caramelized sugar sweetness, a slight dryness to the finish (a la almond skins). It cools to a nice caramel-toned sweetness, with a malic (apple-like) brightness. The body is moderate but suits the overall flavor theme. It's a crowd-pleaser with classic Central America balance between the acidity, body and clean cup characteristics. It's not overly complex, very straightforward really, and a pleasant coffee you don't have to think about too much. For decafs, I think that is a good thing! Fair trade and organic certified."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Brazilian Cerrado DECAF

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:08:59 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"Decaf Brazil is a fairly neutral cup, and its best use is for decaf blends (espresso, or to add body to darker roast decaf blends). But it can offer an interesting straight roast if you target the right roast level. It adds body and is a good "backdrop" in terms of roast taste. A backdrop coffee fills out the background of the cup and does not interfere with your "highlight" coffees, the ones that are going to be the exclamation point of your cup character. If you want earthiness in the cup, a Sumatra or Sulawesi can do this for you and provide body. But if you are not trying to develop an earthy "wild" blend, but want a cleaner espresso cup, then Brazil is very useful. It has great espresso use to create low-CAF or decaf blends with body and depth. If you like a very soft espresso cup, you will enjoy this Brazil as a straight decaf espresso (its a bit too mild for me). This Cerrado-region coffee is a traditional Brazilian dry-process coffee. What's that mean? Dry-process means that the ripe coffee cherry is picked by hand, laid out on patios to dry and then the outer pod and inner parchment layers are removed in one milling process to reveal the green coffee seed. But the old traditional Brazilian dry-process was dried on the tree, not on a patio! When a coffee is 100% tree-dried it can be too wild and have unpleasant off flavors. So before decaffeinating this coffee originates with a good lot of coffee, and the new water processor in Mexico that is producing decafs with more origin character than the previous SWP sources. Although the aromatics are low, this is an excellent "special purpose" coffee, great for a lo-caf blend base."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Colombian Huila Excelso DECAF

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:08:17 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"This is from a lot from the area of Huila, in south Colombia. It has no special pedigree, but ended up being a really, really nice cup quality when we evaluated the arrival sample. This was sent for Water Process decaffeination in Mexico and is one of the brighter, more floral arrivals we have had from this source. In recent years we have been buying some remarkable coffees from this region of South Huila department, and in fact our most recent Cup of Excellence coffee is from the same area. So what we have here is a verified solid coffee in non -decaf form, that retained great sweetness and balance through the decaf process. (While there is often the strong possibility of a coffee going "flat" at the decaf plant, losing all its origin character, it always helps to start with a great coffee. Traditionally, brokers bought decaf from the plant, coffee supplied from lower grade "stocklots" by the decaffeinator themselves. The results were never very impressive. Now we are able to designate high quality lots, and get these kinds of results). This coffee has great brightness in the lighter roasts, as much as any decaf Colombia lots we have ever had. The aromatics are fairly mild, floral, and have marked sweetness, nutty roast tones, and hints of citrus. There are more toasty nut notes in the wet aromatics, with vanilla and sweet raisin."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Ethiopian Moplaco Yirgacheffe

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:23:15 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"Yirga Cheffe coffees are a renowned wet-processed type with delicate floral and fruit brightness in the cup. As a sub-region of Sidamo, Yirga Cheffe seemed like quite a specific designation several years ago, but times are changing in the coffee world. As small buyers of micro-lots start to travel to coffee origins more, our ability to designate the source of our coffees becomes more specific. And now we have started to find, within the Yirga Cheffe area, special regions with particular cup character. Comically, this lot does not represent that type of coffee; it's an old style pooled Yirga Cheffe by Moplaco Export, one that passed through the new Ethiopia Coffee Exchange (ECX) so that we aren't sure of it's exact origin within the Yirga Cheffe region. However, I thought it was a really, really nice coffee upon cupping it! The fact the ECX has become more of an obstacle than an aid in sourcing great coffee is still true, but there are exceptions. After all, really nice lots still exist and go to the exchange, and while we don't know the exact Coop or Private mill it comes from, it's still the same coffee. It just takes a lot of cupping to find them. Dry grounds have a distinct lemon cookie scent, with floral and honey sweet scents. The wet aromatics are fantastic; very sweet honeysuckle blossom, honey-butter, sugar cane, orange and even a zest of crushed spearmint. The cup has a soft, full mouthfeel, and ample sweetness. It's a surprisingly silky body for a Yirga Cheffe, which can sometimes be a little thin. Apricot and peach notes emerge, sweet stone fruits, along with the honey and floral notes found in the aromatics. As it cools, robust jasmine notes come to the foreground, along with sweetened apricot tea. It's a remarkable, aromatic coffee with complex estery high notes. It also does incredibly well as an aromatic component in espresso!"

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

Costa Rican Herbazu Red Honey

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:42:49 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Coffee Shrub (from Sweet Maria's) provides the following description:

"Herbazu is a well-known farm in the West Valley region, Naranjo Zarcero area, next door to the Sin Limites farm. They grow a type of Villa Sarchi cultivar that they have used for so long, it has become their own mutation in a way. It's quite a short plant (Villa Sarchi is a dwarf mutation of Bourbon, as is Caturra). This was one of our favorite Costa Rica lots from last year, and is an interesting contrast to the fully washed (traditional wet-process) Herbazu lot. It has all the vivid bright notes and clean cup character but with a more rustic set of flavors overall. Red Honey means this is a pulp natural lot where 80% of the fruity mucilage from the coffee cherry is left on the parchment. This is a high percentage of fruit, compared to a yellow-colored honey parchment where 50% is removed. The result is that it dries to a rich red color when the coffee is in "pergamino", with the exterior parchment shell intact. What this means for the cup is milder acidic brightness, and a lot of body. We also found this processing on a great, bright Costa Rica coffee makes for a very exciting SO espresso shot, with a heightened sense of density to the mouthfeel, and a balance to the bright notes in the cup.

Be prepared for an unconventional Central flavor profile! The dry fragrance has a unique savory sweetness, sweet toasted grains in the light roast and an emerging milk chocolate a bit darker. The wet aroma has hints of winey fruit, slight citrus accents, and balance bittersweet scents. The cup is dynamic and bright, yet also very balanced with a thick body far above the norm for Costa Rica coffees. The mildly rustic flavors in the cup, herbs, sweet fresh-mown grass or hay, might throw you off. It's definitely a flavor profile that takes some time to ponder, but in the end this is a sweet cup that is a joy to drink! It's a fantastic espresso, especially if you can pull shots at 8.5 bars of pressure, a bit low, where a lot of SO espresso does better in my opinion. As it cools, a praline-toffee sweetness comes out, with a rustic suggestion which reveals the fact it's a hybrid process, between wet-type and full natural coffees.

Bold malts up front with a refined (as opposed to raw) sugar/candied peanut-butter sweetness. Reminded me a little of a butterfinger candy bar. A slight lemon zest begins to show as it cools. All in all this was a fairly sweet coffee and I could see it being used in an espresso or as a unique espresso on its own."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.

New Classic Espresso blend

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:59:10 -0400

$10.00
Supplier Sweet Maria's provides the following description:

"Once there was "Classic Italian," our espresso blend to set the benchmark for traditional European-style espresso. It was a blend based on quality Brazil coffees, with a touch of aromatic Central American coffee to add a grace note to the cup, and it had a small percentage of premium robusta in it for crema, mouthfeel, and to add traditional flavors found on the continent. But times change and tastes change. Espresso culture is much less Euro-centric, and for good reason. While Italy gave us espresso, the general quality of street-level espresso there can be exceptionally poor. Don't even talk about coffee in France. The big brands in Europe are largely run by multi-nationals who keep a close watch on price, and gleefully buy lower quality green coffee if they can save .01 Euro. The privates follow suit, in order to compete. Of course, there are the exceptions, but the darker roast styles, well into 2nd crack, to cover up the use of low quality green coffee ... well, that is NOT something to emulate. For Sweet Maria's, espresso has never been our dumping ground for coffees we can't sell, old lots, or ones with mild defect. It's been a program where we have dedicated much time, focus in cupping, and roast testing. With this in mind, we want to start over again, and offer New Classic, a somewhat silly name, an oxymoron, and overused ... but it says what I want it to say: Here is the new benchmark espresso with sweet-bittersweet balance, body, crema, and finesse, the core definition of the espresso beverage, and defines it in the established West Coast espresso style (clean, bright notes) without the burden of European espresso conventions. In other words, no robusta! No obsessive interest in crema! (You can produce buckets of crema in espresso and still have a very mediocre-tasting cup. What ... do you make espresso just to look at the beautiful crema? No dummy, you make it to drink it!) While this blend is designed primarily for a lighter roast, stopping the roast before 2nd crack, it also works well with a darker roast treatment. It does not have the extreme brightness that have been the trademark of some of our Espresso Workshop blends; it is a bit more restrained in it's overall demeanor. The cup has a balance between sweet and bittersweet flavors, moderate bright accent, soft traces of fruit, body and depth. The lighter roasts have a very sweet aromatic, fruited with plum and a hint of spice (cinnamon stick, cardamom). Darker roasts tend toward chocolate laced with dark fruit tones, in both aroma and cup flavor. Both have a firm, opaque body, with toasted almond roast notes as the espresso cools. In the aftertaste, peach tea flavor (and it light roasts a bit of jasmine tea) are evident. Of course, results vary with how the espresso machine and grinder are set up. We use 8.5 bars of pressure at the head, with 202 degrees water temperature (measured at the head) to start, dropping to about 198. At higher temperatures, it's a more aggressive espresso with a bittersweet edge and well-suited to milk drinks."

Your coffee is packed in a heavy plastic bag with a one-way valve. Pre-roasted weight is roughly a pound; somewhat less than that after roasting.

I roast to order, so bear with me.

All proceeds benefit Batten Disease Support and Research Association.